Palmyrene Funerary Sculptures from Singidunum

Abstract

Although many epigraphical and archaeological monuments of Syrian origin in the territory of Central Balkans’ Roman provinces from the period of Roman reign have been discovered in the past, monuments from Palmyra are rare. Therefore, the three monuments of Palmyrene origin from National Museum in Belgrade, are even more important, because they represent valuable examples of Palmyrene funerary art from the Roman period. On two monuments, the very elite of Palmyrene society is represented – two Palmyrene priests dressed in their characteristic clothes with modius on their heads, while the third monument represents a funerary loculus stela of a young girl holding a bird (probably a dove) and grapes. The analysis of the iconography and stylistic traits of the monuments showed that they can be dated to the period of the 2nd-3rd century, during which (particularly during the reign of the Severan dynasty) the imigrants of Oriental origin came in several migration waves to Central Balkans’ Roman provinces and inhabited bigger centres, including Singidunum, where they had their enclave.